Aug 31 2010

Welcome to class. This will be a place where you can check on our daily progress. Today we spent time discussing the types of engineers and generally what they do. We then viewed a video of Mr. Nystrom's swim spa which had a top he couldn't get off and on without help. We discussed how to come up with a possible solution.

Sept 2 2010

Today we will begin by discussing the problem from last class. We also discussed the differences between engineers, scientists, inventors, and designers As a class we need to find a significant problem to research and solve over the semester--so we discussed some possibilities. In the mean time, here are a few minor problems within the school that we'll divide amongst the class to find solutions.

Potential Working Problems

  • Ms. Mismash's wading boot stand
  • Simplify the layout of the shop ... or any of its specific stations
  • Holding the plywood in the wood shop
  • Holding the hard woods in the wood shop
  • Self navigating sailboat

Sept 7 2010

Today we split into three groups and worked on Ms. Mishmash's boot drying rack. Your final objective was to come up with a proposal which I could take to her -- so it needed to be completely self explanatory with size, shape, materials, moving parts, etc.

Sept 9 2010

Today I collected the homework, which was to come up with potential working problems for the semester. Ms. Mishmash had feedback on your designs which we went over after each group described their proposal to the class. We took a short field trip to see the area involved. We narrowed down our design. Here are the job assignments: Design: Calan, Materials: Connor, Building: BV. Class ended with us dismantling the Titanic.

Sept 13 2010

Today we're going to discuss the Engineering Process at the top of the page. We'll also take the Shop Quiz. We'll also spend some time working on our design using Google SketchUp. Here is boot dryer.skp in SketchUp. Homework for tonight is to copy the "Engineering Process" we worked on today and fill it out on your own, and to come up with 5 beneficial design changes to the boot dryer submitted by Calan.

Sept 21 2010

Today we're going to review what I'm looking for. Here is an example from me .

Sept 27 2010

How does it work? How is it made? Sonicare Toothbrush. You now have calendars to keep you on track, so although we'll spend some time on the toothbrush question, most of your time should be spent keeping your deadlines.

Nove 17 2010
Here is an opportunity for the class. It's a design challenge here in Maine to build a competitive wind turbine blade. The deadline to enter is Nov 30 and the competition is in Orno in May. http://www.mainewindb